Union County Florida Ancestry

Union County

FLGenWeb

A proud part of USGenWeb ®

usgenweb

I am Rebecca Maloney, Temporary Webmistress and Coordinator for Union County, Florida. I hope you enjoy your visit. Please email me if you have any suggestions or contributions you would like to make.

family

Union County Was Established

Union County, established on October 1, 1921, is the smallest of Florida's 67 counties. Its 245 square miles are bounded by Baker County on the north and by the natural boundaries of Olustee Creek, the Santa Fe River and the New River. Once occupied by the Timucuan Indians, this area was a part of the Spanish Florida colony ceded to the United States in 1821.
Early settlements, centered around Providence, a stage stopover, and Worthington Springs on the Santa Fe River, which were protected by military posts at Fort Ward and Fort Call during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), while Fort Crabb secured the area north of Lake Butler. Cattle, lumber, and sea island cotton provided a basis for economic development, and in 1859, the town of Lake Butler was established as the county seat of the newly created New River County (later Bradford County in 1861).
The lake and town were named after Colonel Robert Butler, the first Surveyor General of the Florida Territory. Growth and prosperity in the area were forestalled by the Civil War, and then hampered by the lack of adequate transportation facilities. But by 1890, the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad had crossed the county, with depots at Lake Butler and Guilford. Lake Butler prospered and was incorporated as a city in 1893. The Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad (later a branch of the Atlantic Coast Line) was completed in 1899, serving Raiford, Johnstown, Lake Butler, Danville, Dukes and Worthington Springs. Cattle, dairy and food crop production expanded after the boll weevil struck the cotton fields in 1918. Raiford was the center of lumber and naval stores operations, while Worthington Springs became a popular resort noted for its health-giving waters, and in 1913, a state prison farm established near Raiford provided additional economic stimulation and diversity to the local economy.
By 1920, the demand for division of the area from Bradford County had peaked and on May 20, 1921, the State Legislature created Union County, from that portion west of the New River. The name Union was chosen to reflect unity. With a population of more than 10,000, Union County has retained its rural character. Forest products and agriculture continue to provide its economic base, supplemented by the state prisons, light manufacturing, and the trucking industries that have replaced the railroads as its transportation link with the nation.

I hope you find my efforts helpful in your research of Union County Florida roots. I am unable to do additional research on your family as I live in Colorado and do not have direct access to records. I post everything I have for all to use.

Research Resources

Make sure you check the "Research Resources" section! There are many resources for your research use!

Search This Site

Looking for family...

events 

This Search Engine will search everything on this site.

index sitemap advanced
search engine by freefind

 

Surrounding Counties

 

BAKER COUNTY

 

COLUMBIA COUNTY

UNION COUNTY

BRADFORD COUNTY

 

ALACHUA COUNTY

 

"The Chosen"

We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.". How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am, and why I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying - I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those who we had never known before."

by Della M. Cummings Wright; Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson; Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, 1943."

 

 

Florida Family History

 

family trees florida

 

Florida ancestry

 

florida ancestry

 

 


Quick Links

 

Contact Us

If you have questions, contributions, or problems with this site, email:

Coordinator - Available

State Coordinator: Jeff Kemp

Asst. State Coordinator: Tricia Aanderud

Questions or Comments?

If you have questions or problems with this site, email the County Coordinator. Please to not ask for specfic research on your family. I am unable to do your personal research. I do not live in Florida and do not have access to additional records.

usgenweb

Union County Florida genealogy

Florida Family History